


Misc. Drabbles

by AFTanith



Series: Cosmological Constant [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/M, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 04:16:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17073290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFTanith/pseuds/AFTanith





	Misc. Drabbles

In those long years after the war against the Reapers, each so happy and uneventful in comparison to what came before, Shepard's nightmares never cease. Her mind dwells on it all, unable to break free from the fear and the frenzy and the horror of the war. Her dream self recalls with perfect clarity every mistake she ever made, every life that was lost, every single damned regret.

Worse, though, worse than seeing the wreckage on Thessia or the phantom of the dead boy whose identity the Catalyst saw fit to steal, are the failures that her mind invents entirely. She sees every decision she ever made go wrong. She watches the quarians destroy the geth, watches them burn over Rannoch, watches Tali slip away even as Shepard scrambles to catch her. She feels her heart freeze and harden as she pulls the trigger on Mordin before the Shroud. Kai Leng kills Miranda; the Collectors dissolve the Normandy crew; Wrex is blown away on Virmire; Samara puts a gun to her head; Cerebus takes Jack and David and the Grissom Academy students; Ashley trusts Udina instead.

It goes on and on, unstoppable. Shepard's subconscious seems just as creative as her consciousness, just as able to invent possibilities. Kaidan dies on Virmire, but Shepard is too late to rescue Ashley. Garrus dies somewhere on Palaven while Shepard sits on her ass. The Council dies in the fight against Sovereign. The Reapers arrive en masse above Arahtot. The Crucible fires, but the Reapers survive.

The fate of the galaxy rested in Shepard's hands for so long. And now that it's safe--or as safe as it can ever be--she finally has time to dwell on how much would have been lost if she'd made the wrong decision at any given point.


End file.
